As Desmond shot out the wind ball from his hand, Nova being aware that there were people behind her, was stumped at what to do. If she moved, the people below would die, but then again, if she didn't, then she and the people below would die.
The answer was now obvious, however, Nova didn't have that much time to think as the ball was already in her face.
"!!!" It seemed the ball had unexpectedly increased it's speed, and that was a result of it's mass increase. Staring at the colossal sphere of doom above her head, Nova wanted to move so bad, but she couldn't; an unknown force was holding her body in place.
In that brief moment of time with the attack centimeters from her face, Nova's eyes shifted to the man behind it. His eyes were glowing red, even in the afternoon light, and he had a complementing eerie smile almost stretching around his face.
'Shi—!!!'
But at the last moment, a white line came dashing in from the distance, pulling her to safety; at least one person was guaranteed survival from the blast that was about to hit.
BOOM
Like hitting a thin wall, Nova's mystery savior made an abrupt stop behind a hill and dropped her.
"Coo."
"Yeah, I'm fine—" Nova had answered a question absentmindedly. But when she realized she shouldn't have been able to, she stopped slapping away the dust around her and looked at the figure above.
It was a majestic looking bird, eight foot tall. It's feathers were white as snow and its wings had golden edges. It looked bigger and different, but Nova could recognize this thieving owl even if it looked like a fish.
"You!"
"Wuh! wuh!" The owl backed up a little.
"Explain? What do have to say then?... Argh!" Nova slapped her forehead as a realization suddenly came to her. "I'm dead aren't I? Or maybe in a coma, 'cause I hit my head very hard in the blast and am hallucinating."
"Coooo. Gukh! gukh!"
The owl suddenly started regurgitating. Alongside the 'rainbow' coloured fluid coming out of its mouth, a white amulet fell on the edge of the hill they were on.
Seeing it, Nova's eyes opened wide. She bent over and hurriedly wiped away the gross liquid on it without a single gag.
"This... It's fine, it's perfectly fine. How is that even possible, it should have been digested, I thought you flew away—"
"Coo coo."
"Really? How did you know it could do that?"
The owl shrugged. "Wuh."
"How'd you even think it would be tasty? Couldn't you find a rat or something." Nova shook her head. However a frown suddenly formed on her face. She put the amulet around her neck just to be sure, but the light really wasn't there, it had disappeared.
'Of course.' The light was already very dim when the owl had snatched it from her. Nova sat on the floor and wrapped her arms around her folded legs. At this point, she was frustrated at how things were playing out.
She had come here with hopes of learning more about her powers, but instead, all she did was waste her time and somehow ended up in a life or death situation. She was safe for now, but they were hiding at the center of the highlands, so even if she wanted to escape, there was a high chance she couldn't.
"Wuh!" However, the owl suddenly let out a gruff sound, bringing her back to reality.
Nova straightened her slumped back and stared at the beast responsible for her problem. "What?"
The owl stretched a wing out in the direction they had just come from. "Wuh!"
"There's nothing to gain from that. I'd just lose my life along with the rest."
The owl lowered its head to look her in the eyes. As Nova stared back, she couldn't help but notice the the golden shine in the owl's eyes. It reminded her of when she had that golden vision.
"Wait.. does that mean...?"
———
"Your heart... I need your heart." Nova's voice rang throughout the quiet highlands, making those around raise their eyebrows.
"Aah, love is a beautiful sensation."An annoying voice sounded in Asher's mind.
"Don't ramble." Asher growled.
"You mean literally... Right?" Desmond couldn't hold himself in the air and soon fell to the ground. "Little girl, you were useless even with all of those people backing you up, how do you hope to win now when you're alone?"
Desmond turned his head to look at Asher, while he fell. "Is it because of him?" He laughed. "We're probably on the same level, so it'll be very easy to just off you as quickly as I can and then focus on him."
Before his back touched the ground, he suddenly disappeared; following that was a boom sound.
In that split second, Nova could feel a hand reaching out for her neck. The speed Desmond was at was even faster than her Photon Blast skill, so she was in terrible danger.
"Shoot! That dude is fast!"
Asher frowned as he tensed his legs, already jumping to Nova's rescue. However, caught off guard, even he couldn't follow the speed of the white line that had suddenly appeared behind Desmond.
"When we were fighting, did I ever give even a slight sense of stupidity to you?" Nova's sword was already a centimeter into the back of Desmond's neck.
'If I'm coming this close, then it's only because I'm one hundred percent sure that you're going to die... And die you shall.'
The blade cut deeper, but before it could do a fatal amount of damage, it suddenly bounced out of him.
Desmond soon came out of his shock and hurled himself in another direction.
He placed his hand on the wound and brought it up to his face. Desmond's dilated eyes stared at his fingers. They were dyed in blood, his own blood.
As he looked at the woman far from him, glowing yellow with a thick white outline, a tingly sense of worry snuck into his mind.
How did she move that fast? Was she hiding her true power all along just so she could create this moment?
No. That couldn't be it. She had almost been struck by his wind ball skill, only to be saved by a... a beast!
Coming to a conclusion, his eyes went to the giant bird beneath Nova's feet. The bird had a ghostly white light surrounding its body, the same white light that also coated Nova's silhouette. If that was the case, then it meant the strange beast was responsible for her massive boost in agility.
Desmond hadn't heard of a beast that could power up people already with abilities. But he wasn't really in an inquisitive mood at the moment because that beast was far too dangerous.
But could he really do anything about it?
Without a sound, Desmond felt that cold blade touch his skin again, making his hair rise. He was able to dodge by a hair's breadth, nevertheless, Nova appeared behind him again.
Soon Asher was watching the scene of the week as Desmond was constantly being assaulted by a white and golden line. Sometimes he would try to hit back, however, Nova on the white owl simply dodged and continued bathing him with scratches and wounds. There were even multiple times where Desmond would activate the skill that formed a ball of pressure around his body, but Nova's sword was unexpectedly able to slice through the ball.
It was truly a shocking sight for all; Desmond, Asher and even Nova; the squad members had already skedaddled.
With each thrust and swipe, Nova was amazed by how slow the world seemed to be moving and by how fast she was moving. Although she wasn't sure if it would allow it, Nova wanted the owl working with her by her side. With it's power, it wouldn't even matter if her system was faulty, she would be able to take down a rank 6 beast with ease.
With its perks, she was sure to be able to defeat Desmond soon and get whatever it was that her sword wanted. She had gained more than enough out of her ten day journey!
In the middle of her excitement, Nova had failed to notice the colour yellow on her body fading away, the golden markings on the owl disappearing, and most of all, the yellow cracks appearing all over her body.
She hadn't noticed any of that, but Asher had. "Nova! Stop whatever you're doing now!"
Hearing his voice, Nova made an abrupt stop. As she did, Desmond's wound laden body turned limp and fell down to the ground. He was completely bathed in his own blood.
"Wh—" Nova wanted to ask what was wrong, however she soon found out that she couldn't speak. Her throat hurt like death whenever she even opened her mouth.
"Gukh!" She grabbed her throat as blood started pouring out. Now that Nova had stopped the adrenaline flow in her body, all the pain that was supposed to come gradually, instead gathered into one devastating blow.
It was at that moment that she realized that her hands looked cracked, she was like a white stone with golden crevices. Unable to take anymore of the pain, she fainted on the owl's back, while the owl also started to descend tiredly to the ground.
"Shit!" Asher flew down to the giant owl.
"What did you do?" He stared at her, lying unconscious, but in obvious pain. He was afraid to hold her as she looked so fragile that he felt she might break. "What can I...? I have to take her back home, Lucius would know what to do."
Asher was about to wrap both Nova and the owl inside a ball made of wind, when, he suddenly felt the atmosphere turning heavier.
As he looked forward, he could see a large red dome from afar. The dome's surface was constantly shifting like liquid but instead of pouring apart, it broke from the top, down, revealing a scary figure within.
This eerie figure was the Infected, except now there was a visible crimson aura surrounding him.
ROAR!!!
Desmond roared into the sky, his voice booming like a titan's. But soon he grabbed his head as if he was fighting against something unseen.
Or rather, he was trying to regain control of his senses.
"NO! NO ONE AND NOTHING TELLS ME WHAT I'M IN EXCEPT ME. IF I'M GOING MAD, I'M NOT LOSING MY MIND TO SOMETHING ELSE!!!" His voice shook the air around him, and even Asher could feel the impact.
But he couldn't care less about that for now, so he carried both Nova and the owl with his wind ability and clawed open the space type barrier.
BOOM!!!!!!!
He suddenly heard a loud bang from behind. And before even point five seconds, Desmond was already behind him.
Without a word, Asher stretched his hand backwards to catch Desmond by the head. The Infected had a pressure shield around his body, but Asher's flames dispersed it as soon as it touched him.
However, Desmond was quick to act. He pulled his body back to rethink his strategy, only to be pulled into Asher's one hand like an object to a black hole.
Still resisting, Desmond shot out large curves of wind, but they were all redirected as they struck Asher's replica of his own skills.
"Ragh!!! What are you?!" Desmond yelled in fear, anger and frustration as he stared at Asher. Nothing he did worked on him. All Desmond was doing seemed like throwing a mere fit as he slowly succumbed to the pulling force.
Asher looking at Desmond over his shoulder made the crimson eyed man shiver in fear. His hot red eyes couldn't hold a candle to Asher's cold obsidian iris. It was like dipping hot firewood into an ocean and expecting the entire water to be set ablaze; a useless attempt. Nothing he did was worth anything in front of the man before him. And ironically enough, Desmond was the one who started to think of Asher as some sort of creature.
Why not? Asher had just used different skills that could in no way relate to a single ability.
"So this is why he's got a beast's Berserk mode." The Old Man said as Asher stared at the glowing red ball in his hand.
It was just then that Desmond realized there was a small hole in his chest. "You..." His pupils shook in disbelief, but then in anger.
With a loud roar, he channeled all the energy he could into his own body. He was going to self destruct, ending both his and Asher's life in the process.
"Nice try." Silver markings appeared on each side of Asher's lips and the red ball turned into a mist, flowing into the void that was his mouth.
And like that, Desmond's eyes soon turned dead blank as Asher flew through the space he had just cut through to escape. Although his soul was gone, the energy in Desmond's body was not, and it very unstable.
A massive explosion occurred on the other side, giving energy to the gluttonous black flames. The fire ran into the barrier independently to continue its feast.
Asher didn't have time to inspect what was happening so he bolted off to Neath.
Whatever the flames was doing to the barrier Lucius had set up, it would be the Dean's problem.